


Why Did HE Have to Come?

by wanderdust



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Slow Burn, Slow Burn Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-21
Updated: 2015-10-18
Packaged: 2018-03-13 22:31:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 14,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3398603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wanderdust/pseuds/wanderdust
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Modern AU. The Deliquents decide to go on a fun backpacking trip in the wilderness for a few days. Clarke is mostly excited for the trip, except that Octavia left out the fact that BELLAMY was coming too.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Alright! First fic! Let's see how long I can keep this up... Hope you enjoy, this chapter's mostly just setting up the plot.

Clarke shifted her feet to the dashboard of the car, peered out the window and groaned.

"Look, I'm sorry but he's my brother, you know?" a voice retorted. Clarke shot her head back at Octavia who was driving and glared. "Plus- you're the only one who has a problem with him. Everyone else gets along fine with Bellamy, even Lincoln!"

"Octavia- don't act like this is my all fault! Your sucky brother is just as much of an instigator as I am!" Clarke huffed, "He never listens and always cuts me off! I swear to God, he just doesn't take me seriously and looks for any excuse to annoy me. So yes, maybe for everyone else that's just fine and dandy, but I'm not gonna let him step all over me!"

"Maybe he likes you." Octavia said, waggling her eyebrows at the word 'like'.

"Please, this isn't kindergarten, Tavia." the blonde groaned. She then pointed at the driver and said, "Anyway, you brought this on yourself. Have fun knowing you ruined the trip by bringing me AND your brother."

"Bringing your brother and I, Clarke." Octavia corrected. She smirked as she heard a disapproving _Jesus Chris_ _t!_ from Clarke. "If anything, you should be trying to be on your best behavior, or _you'll_ ruin the trip."

"No promises." Clarke quipped. If she weren't talking to her best friend, she would be practically seething. But where's the use in that? The deed is done: Bellamy Blake is going to be on the same trip as her. She shouldn't waste her time getting mad at Octavia. Still, as if Finn joining the trip wasn't bad enough, that dick had to come too. At least Clarke could handle Finn, the past was in the past and he was with Raven now. But Bellamy? She could barely stand being in the same room with him! Even less on a trip in the middle of nowhere for 5 days. _Calm down Clarke,_ she thought, _Octavia's right, if you stay chill then the trip won't even be half as stressful as you make it to be._ She decided to change the subject.

"So what's the plan?" she asked.

"Well, as you know, we are headed to Mt. Weather National Park to meet up with Lincoln and the others." Clarke nodded. "Lincoln brought supplies and food to last the week, since, well, that's his thing." It was his thing, since Lincoln practically organized trips like these as job for the organization Tree Krew, whose employees were commonly called 'Grounders' by residents. He and Octavia had met when she got lost in the woods after a wild party in her ex boyfriend Atom's cabin, he saved her and they hit it off so quickly that it almost scared Clarke. Soon after, Tavia could not get enough of all this camping and health crap, and they were inseparable. Clarke didn't mind the guy, he was pretty quiet which was good for Octavia, though she wondered if her protective brother thought the same. The sudden thought of Bellamy made her angry again, so she kept the conversation going.

"That's nice of him to bring all of that. All we had to get were our own backpacks." Clarke said.

"Yup!" Octavia chimed, "Anyway, after that Lincoln'll teach us how to use the supplies, we'll pack our bags and then off to find a camping spot, hopefully before dark. Then we'll set up our tents, cook dinner and just have a good time!" Her enthusiasm was just bursting at this point, it made Clarke smile. "Just you, me, Lincoln, Monty, Jasper, Miller, Harper, Raven, Finn and..." Clarke's smile faded... she knew who.


	2. We Haven't Even Started Walking Yet!

When the girls arrived at the Mt. Weather National Park parking lot, Clarke was happy to see that most of their friends were already there. Raven was teasing Finn about the massive amount of layers he had brought, and had Harper help them sort out what he had. As Clarke and Octavia exited their car, they overheard several remarks from Raven such as "A wool sweater? Jesus, Finn! Do you know how much that'll weigh plus the rest of the clothes?" and "Pack some damn sunscreen! You know your pasty ass can't handle the sun, and I don't want to come back home with my boyfriend burnt to a crisp".

"Hey guys!" Octavia interrupted.

"Octavia! Clarke!" Raven exclaimed, followed by similar greetings from Harper and Finn. They all hugged, though Clarke wished she could've avoided the awkward contact with Finn, as his hug lasted a little _too_ long for her liking.

"Are the others here yet?" Clarke asked.

"Miller went to go pee. Jasper and Monty..." Harper paused, "Well, honestly, who knows with those two".

As if on cue, Jasper and Monty burst out of the forest bushes. "You guys!" Jasper cried, holding up a flyer, "There's a guy who's been missing here for 2 months! Holy shit... He could be dead!" Monty rolled his eyes.

"Gimme that." Raven took the flyer and studied it. "John Murphy, disappeared April 5th, last seen in blah blah blah... Jeez, this guy looks like a creep."

Finn nudged her, saying softly, "Come on Raven, you know better than to judge." Raven pulled his face in for a peck on the cheek. "You're right, I'm sorry. What can I say, I'd be a terrible person without your reality checks." she answered. Clarke was starting to feel awkward with the sudden PDA and the potential dead guy on the flyer, but thankfully, Lincoln rolled up in his truck. The trunk was filled with bins and bags of camping equipment, Clarke wondered how they could possibly fit all that in 10 backpacks.

"Lincoln!!!" Octavia cried. As he shut the car door he was greeted by her humungous hug. Lincoln hugged her back with his huge arms, earning a collective "Awwwww" from the rest of the group. As the couple split up, Lincoln said hi and gestured towards the back of truck and the group followed.

"Okay! So we have a lot to take care of." He said. "First, we pull this stuff out." Everyone pitched in to lift items out of the truck, even Miller who had just returned from the bathroom. They then took stock of what they had: 10 sets of plastic silverware for eating, 10 bear cans, some pots and pans, a miniature stove fueled by propane, cooking utensils, soap, tents and tent poles, first aid kit, water filters, and **lots** of food. Food including Nutella, Monty noted. "I also have whistles for everyone, in case anyone gets lost." Lincoln stated, and glanced over to Octavia accusingly.

"Shut up!" she exclaimed and slapped him on the shoulder.

"What are bear cans?" Miller asked, holding up a strange black can.

"Those are where we put the food. They're made so that bears or raccoons can't break in and eat our food." Lincoln answered. "We'll each have to carry a full one in our backpacks. Initially, they're pretty heavy, but as the days go by, they'll get lighter and lighter as we eat more of our food supply."

At this moment, another car pulled up. Clarke hoped it was another hiker set to take their dog for a quick walk on the trail, but she knew all too well how cruel life was. Out of the car exited Bellamy Blake, asshole supreme. As Bellamy took his backpack out of his car, she braced for the worst, almost considering hiding behind Harper. But, Clarke was better than that, and stood tall amongst her friends who were clearly excited to see him.

"Bellamy!" Octavia exclaimed as she pulled him into a hug, "I'm so glad you came!"

"Sorry I'm late, O." He said while smiling fondly at his sister (a gesture that made Clarke step back in disbelief), "Had to change a tire on the way here. Plus you know how traffic is where I live." As he broke the hug, he walked towards everyone else. "What's up guys?" he yelled, and while passing Clarke he glared and grunted "Princess." Clarke snorted, she could not believe how childish he was! She was about to retort with a snarky greeting, but remembered her sort of promise to Octavia. _Stay civil_ , she thought.

"Hello Bellamy." she responded, trying not give any sign of emotion. Bellamy flashed a quizzical look, expecting a harsher answer, but quickly moved on to greet the others.

Finally, the whole gang was here! Everyone split the supplies into 10 equal parts, and chose which they wanted to bring in their packs. Clarke took some water filters and a propane canister, and filled her bear can with lunch food like salami, cheese, bagels, and PB & J. She also laughed at Monty sneaking the jar of Nutella into his bear can, though she knew he would probably share at some point. Probably. Maybe if she bribed him with salami.

"Alright! We're looking good here!" Lincoln announced, interrupting Clarke's thoughts of obtaining Nutella. "Now I'll teach you guys how to pack your backpacks, _correctly_." Clarke brought her backpack over to where her stuff was, ignoring that Bellamy happened to be packing next to her. While Lincoln explained how what he found was the best packing structure, which was sleeping bag on the bottom of the pack, bear can on top and clothes squished in the empty space left, Clarke, was bothered to see Bellamy packing completely incorrectly.

"Bellamy, what are you doing?" she barked.

"What do you mean, what am I doing? I'm packing." he grumbled.

"Are you even listening to Lincoln? You don't put your bear can in like that, it'll throw off the balance of the bag."

"Like I care, its just a backpack."

"It could really mess up your back, Bellamy."

"God, Princess!" he snarled, "If only we all went to prissy Med School like you did! If only we were as PERFECT as our favorite American Sweetheart, Clarke Griffin, but no, we're all just dunces to you!"

Wow. That was uncalled for. Nevertheless, it was the last straw for Clarke's pent up anger. "HOW DOES MY EDUCATION HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THIS??!! I'M SORRY I PURSUED A MEDICAL CAREER?? IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT ME SAY??? CHRIST, ALL I ASKED YOU TO DO WAS PACK A BACKPACK LIKE LINCOLN, AN ACTUAL EXPERT ON THE OUTDOORS, BECAUSE, HMMMMMM, MAYBE THAT'S A LOGICAL DECISION TO FOLLOW?" _So much for chill_ , she thought.

"LISTEN PRINCESS I DON'T NEED YOU HOVERING OVER MY NECK 24/7 TELLING ME WHAT TO DO. SO KEEP YOUR DAMN BUSINESS TO YOURSELF!!!'

"I AM NOT IN YOUR BUSINESS I WAS SIMPLY TRYING TO -"

His dark eyes blazed with fury. "YES YOU ARE!! YOU ALWAYS WANT PEOPLE TO DO WHAT YOU TELL THEM TO DO, AND YOU ACT LIKE SMART ASS ALL THE TIME. SORRY THAT I DON'T FOLLOW YOU LIKE A LEMMING, YOUR HIGHNESS" There he goes! Cutting her off again! She was infuriated beyond belief!

"I CAN'T BELIEVE-" Clarke started yelling, but suddenly someone else interrupted her.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU TWO???" screamed Octavia, "ARE YOU SERIOUSLY FIGHTING OVER HOW TO PACK A BACKPACK??!!" Everyone turned quiet, even the steaming Clarke and Bellamy. "I canNOT believe you guys already fighting! We haven't even stepped on the trail!" she paused for a moment, "I think you need to leave."

"Yeah, Bellamy. Leave." Clarke snarled. Bellamy was about to shout when-

"No- the both of you." Octavia stammered, her voice lowered. A strong, spiteful look formed on Octavia's face, which was foreign to Bellamy and Clarke. "If you can't get along, then I'm afraid neither of you can join this trip. Unlike you guys, I actually want to have _fun_ on this trip. And trust me I would have a splendid time on this trail without having to pry you two apart every five minutes."

"What- but- you know I've wanted to do this since forever! I came here for fun, just like you, Octavia." Clarke pleaded, she could not stand the thought of getting kicked off the trip. None of this would have happened if she had just known that-

"O, please, I really do want to spend more time with you! I want to get to know your friends and Lincoln. I actually _do_ want to be here." Bellamy whimpered. It surprised Clarke how vulnerable Bellamy could be around Octavia. If only she could have that effect.

"Then could you guys please just _try_ to get along? Is it so hard for you to just not yell at each other? " Octavia grumbled.

Clarke and Bellamy looked at each other. They stared into each other's eyes and agreed with a nod, _for Octavia_.

"We promise" they both said to her.

They hoped they could keep it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don't worry- i didn't kill off murphy. he'll be fine


	3. And It Begins

After the big blow-up between Clarke and Bellamy, the delinquents trudged to their first campsite in an awkward silence. Clarke made sure to be in the back of the line, as far away from Bellamy Blake as possible. The less time they spent together, the less time they spent fighting. Also she hated him, but she tried not to think about that. Instead she thought about how goddamn heavy this backpack was, and how maybe another reason she was in the back was because of how out of shape she was. _You don't get a lot of time to work out when you're learning to be a doctor_ , Clarke remembered. This trip was probably one of the few breaks she could manage during the school year, and one of the even fewer where she could actually have fun, since last she checked her mom wasn't coming. _Of course maybe Octavia would have another genius idea and invite her too,_ she mused. Suddenly Miller, who was in front of her, stopped. She looked ahead to see that everyone else had too.

"Hey guys, I've got a fun little factoid for you." Lincoln beamed, and pointed across the canyon on the side of their trail, "Do you see that spot of metal in the mountain? That's the door to the abandoned Mt. Weather military base. It's well hidden, but from here you can get a good look." A lot of _ooohs_ escaped the group's mouths, craning their heads to get a better look.

"Let's check it out." Bellamy said.

Clarke got really annoyed. "Seriously?? Right now?? That's like two miles across the canyon! If there's anything we need to do, it's to stay on the trail, Bellamy." Clarke blurted.

Bellamy shot a look of defiance in her direction, which was seen by everyone in the line as Clarke was in the back. Quick to act, Boyfriend of the Year Lincoln ceased the potential fight by saying: "She's right, Bellamy. We need to get to campsite before it gets too dark. We can check it out another day." Octavia looked relieved as Bellamy nodded, and they all continued walking on the trail.

At this point, everyone was tired of being quiet, so as a result they all resorted to singing. Jasper and Monty would start 80's hits one after the other, and both belted a strong "Living on a Prayer" after Lincoln had indicated that they were, in fact, halfway there. Harper lead an endless stream of Disney songs, which almost everyone joined in. The most popular being "Make a Man Out of You", as the lyrics were widely known and it did help encourage them to keep walking. Clarke was ashamed to say that she participated a bit too much in the Taylor Swift songs, but at this point, no one cared. She admired the beautiful landscape that kept growing as they walked up the mountain, the sun warming her skin like a gentle kiss. Despite her legs aching from the exercise and the incline only making her more and more exhausted, she could not have felt better. Laughing with her friends and enjoying nature had really made her feel, if only for a moment, at peace.

-

Finally after what seemed like forever (but was only a few miles) they arrived at Lincoln's planned campsite. "I always have three rules for the perfect campsite.", he said, "One, a flat surface.", he motioned the ground, "Two, out of the way of the trail. And three, next to a source of water." and paused to hear the water in the stream nearby. Monty murmured "Nerd" and everyone laughed as Octavia quipped a "Look who's talking!".

The group set their backpacks down and started taking out their gear. Once all the bear cans were organized, everyone decided who would be doing what. Bellamy, Finn and Monty would cook, Clarke and Raven would get water from the stream, and Octavia and Miller would clean the dishes afterwards. Harper and Jasper went to help Lincoln plan tomorrow's trip. The sun was starting to set, so it all had to be done quickly.

As Clarke went with Raven to the stream carrying the water filters and loads of water bottles to fill, she asked "Raven, how on Earth can you and everyone else stand Bellamy?"

This caught Raven off-guard. "That's a weird question." she answered, "Why do _you_ hate Bellamy so much?"

"I asked you first."

Raven chuckled. "I don't know. He's... chill I guess. He's pretty funny once he opens up." Once they arrived at the stream, she knelt down and opened the water filter bag in the water. "Oh! One time, at Tavia's 22nd birthday, after she blew out the candles, he shoved her face in the cake!" She laughed so hard she lost her balance and almost fell in the stream before Clarke caught her. Raven laughed again. "Thanks." she said, "Anyway, you had to be there." Clarke felt bad, she had totally forgotten about how she couldn't go to Octavia's 22nd because she had a huge exam the next day to study for. She really did miss out, as well as let Octavia down that day.

Raven picked up on Clarke's sigh. "You okay?" she asked. "You know we're all really glad you could come. We know enough about the chaos that is med school to appreciate you're here."

"Yeah. I just... I'm sorry I can't be around all the time... I really do love you guys, and I just don't want to mess this up, especially for Octavia." Clarke answered. She heard a loud crash and Bellamy's laugh. "Ugh."

"Yeah, ok he can be kind of an ass too." Raven agreed, "But I think he's trying just as hard as you are to make this trip work, so at least give him that. Just have fun! Maybe you'll see a different side of him." She waggled her eyebrows. _What is with people waggling their eyebrows at me today???_ Clarke thought.

-

Dinner was delicious. Monty, Finn and Bellamy had cooked beans, rice with some cheese to serve on tortillas, making wonderful burritos. Maybe it was just because she had been hiking all day, but Clarke decided that these were on of the best burritos (of the bean, cheese and rice variety) that she had ever had. She wolfed down the first one and quickly asked for another serving, earning a quizzical look from Bellamy.

"Come on Blake, can't let down a customer now can you?" she taunted

Bellamy smirked and said. "So you like my food, huh?" He served a pile of rice and beans on her tortilla. "Think you can manage to finish seconds?"

She hated that smirk, so she took the food and crammed it into her mouth, and almost choked when she heard Bellamy's laugh. "I guess it takes a banquet to appease a princess" he snorted.

"Shrut up." she said with mouth still full. That only seemed to make him laugh harder. Out of embarrassment, Clarke left to sit with Jasper, who was easy to start a conversation with. However, every time she caught Bellamy's eye, he would snicker a little, which was enough to make her laugh even the tiniest bit.

-

"Oh my god, you did not!" Clarke whispered. Harper and Clarke were in their tent tucked in their sleeping bags, laughing at embarrassing stories.

"I'm telling you, I really had to go!" Harper replied.

"I can't believe you peed on your cousin while he gave you a piggy back ride! That's so gross!"

"I WAS FIVE!"

"Maybe you still should've stuck with diapers after potty training. Clearly you didn't learn."

Harper whacked Clarke. With what, she didn't know, but it was definetly not a pillow. "OW!" she shrieked playfully. They laughed and then Clarke said, "I'm glad I went on this trip. I haven't talked to you in forever."

"Yeah" Harper yawned, "It's nice."

"We should probably go to bed. Lincoln's gonna wake us up at seven."

"Ewwwww" Harper moaned.

Clarke laughed. "Goodnight, Harper."

"Goodnight, Clarke", was the last thing Clarke heard before she dozed off into a deep sleep.

...

"Clarke! Clarke!" she heard in what felt like moments later. She turned and lifted her eyelids open. "Jasper?" she squeaked.

"Wake up! We need to talk! Like right now!"

Clarke groaned. She crawled out of her sleeping bag, God it was cold out. She put on a fleece sweater and shoes, grabbed her flashlight and groggily zipped open the tent. Oh, GOD, it was cold. She walked out with Jasper towards Bellamy, who was comforting a crying Harper.

"What's going on?" she asked. It was pitch black outside. She could hear the crickets chirping.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Bellamy yelled.

"Whoa, what? What did I do?"

"Nothing. I was in our tent when I heard scuffling and murmuring. I got scared so I got Bellamy to check it out, and Harper was just there walking. At first we thought she was going to the bathroom, so we ignored it, but after 20 minutes we got worried and found her just walking aimlessly out of nowhere." Jasper explained quickly. "Thankfully we woke her up."

"I'm so sorry you guys!" Harper sobbed, followed by Bellamy shushing her and wrapping his jacket around her.

"So let me get this straight, Harper was sleepwalking?" Clarke asked, then turning her attention to Harper, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I haven't done it since I was a kid" she answered between sobs, "Usually you grow out of sleepwalking but I guess it came back tonight. I don't know how... I'm really sorry."

Clarke met Harper's eyes. "Harper, its okay. If you didn't know, than how could we have? It's not your fault, or anyone else's."

"Well its kinda your fault, Clarke." Bellamy snarled, "This wouldn't have happened if you didn't pull a Sleeping Beauty on us. It took Jasper a solid two minutes to wake you up!"

"Wha- How was I supposed to-"

"Bellamy, shut up." Jasper scolded, "Don't worry about it Clarke." He paused. "In any case, I think now we should probably have the lightest sleeper sleep in Harper's tent. Just in case it happens again." He headed to his tent and started grabbing his stuff. "Seeing as how I was the only one to hear her, I'm probably the best choice here."

Clarke and Bellamy agreed until they realized that would mean they would have to share a tent. They started spouting objections at the same time and Jasper groaned. "Oh come on you guys, take one for the team. You need to get along for this trip anyway, why not start here?"

"Sharing a tent? Wouldn't that do, I don't know, _the opposite_?" Bellamy retorted. Clarke was pleased to see he was as unhappy about this as she was.

"Look do you want Harper to wander off into who knows where? Disappear like that Murphy guy? Just suck it up. You can sleep as far apart as you want." Jasper insisted, "My logic is sound, yours isn't." he then said smugly.

"He's right" a quiet Harper piped.

Clarke and Bellamy groaned. There was no use arguing. Clarke begrudgingly moved her stuff to Bellamy's tent, muttering how bad of an idea this was. She entered the tent to find Bellamy taking his shirt off. She paused a second and didn't know what to do. She stared at him for a couple seconds.

"What are you doing?" she asked, quicker than she expected. She hoped he didn't think she was checking him out, even though she was.

"It's hot"

"What do you mean? It's freezing out!"

"I guess I'm not cold."

"Then sleep outside, I'm sure you'll find it much cooler!" Making an obvious frown that she hoped masked her blush.

"No way, Princess. This is my tent." he smirked, brushing the hair out of his eyes. "You're so easy to bother."

"You're so stupid." she grumbled while she put her stuff down. She laid out her sleeping bag and jumped right in it. She heard Bellamy turn over in his bag.

Bellamy was on his side with his head in one hand and the other on his waist. A mock 'sexy' pose. He smirked again and announced: "Welcome to Bellamy Blake's castle! Hope you enjoy your stay, princess." and winked.

Clarke turned her back on him, hiding her smile and said, "You're gross"

 


	4. Starry Night

Clarke stared at the ceiling of the tent, listening to the breeze and the crickets. It took her a few moments of staring blankly into space to realize that she probably was not going to be falling asleep anytime soon. She sighed. Next to her, Bellamy slept soundly, and although at first she expected him to snore as loudly as he yelled at her, the surprising calmness of his sleep felt like a comfortable silence shared by the two. _If only he could be this quiet when he's awake_ , she thought. She pondered how ironic it was that before, she was so deep in sleep she couldn't hear Harper, and now, she could barely bat an eye. The thought of Harper wandering alone in the forest terrified her, and Clarke had never felt so guilty of not waking up. _What if Jasper didn't hear Harper's second attempt? I should probably stay awake and wait for her. I can't let this happen again,_ she decided. Still, the uncomfortableness of the ground made her back ache and the cold air on her face really made her wish she was asleep, just so she wouldn't have to bear it any longer. The blonde tustled around in her sleeping bag, turning to lay on her side. She sighed once more.

"Trouble sleeping?' a gruff voiced answered. Clarke's eyes shot up in alarm, she turned over to face Bellamy. He was staring at her intensely, eyebrows furrowed, mouth shut tight, tired eyes. She glanced at the rest of his body, and started laughing.

"Wha-What's so funny?" Bellamy asked in a concerned voice that made Clarke laugh even harder.

"You- haha, oh my God- you look so stupid!" she heaved. At this point, Bellamy looked really offended. Clarke tried to explain in between laughs, "I turn around- heh- and see you with this super serious face tucked in this huge burrito of a sleeping bag- You look like a dumb, angry worm! Like this stupid burrito with a scowl on it!" she then thought of something that made her laugh even harder. "Burrito Blake!"

Bellamy smiled, "Well, look who's talking! You look like a damn caterpillar!". Clarke giggled, laid on her tummy and started inching like a caterpillar, which in turn made Bellamy laugh. "This is so stupid." he said, still smiling. Clarke agreed, this was probably the dumbest thing to ever make her laugh. But still, it felt like ages since Clarke had a good laugh, and she was glad to savor it with someone else. Even if that someone was Bellamy Blake...

Once the laughter died, there was a comfortable silence between the two. Clarke tried to remember what started this... oh right!

"To answer your question- yes, I am having trouble sleeping. Why are you awake?" she whispered. Bellamy reached out and started to unzip his bag.

"I guess I have a lot to think about." he paused. "Maybe I need some fresh air- Wanna come?" he asked, now out of the bag and putting on his hiking boots.

"No way! It's freezing!" She exclaimed, then gazed once again at the shirtless Bellamy, "Not like that bothers you or anything."

"Of course not!" He said while putting on a sweater, "Not like my bare chest bothers you or anything, right princess?", he winked.

Clarke groaned. _Again with the princess nickname,_ she thought. As Bellamy waved and left the tent, she was left to lay in her sleeping bag staring at empty space again. While she was warm and comfy, she doubted she'd still be able to fall asleep. She wondered how late it was- 2? 3? 4 in the morning? It would still be a while until everyone is supposed to wake up. She glanced at the tent opening and thought _I guess I got nothing better to do_. Outside it was. She put on all of her layers and unzipped the tent door, crisp, cold air nipping her face.

She caught sight of Bellamy sitting on a large boulder, perfect for a view of the mountain range they were soon to enter. Clarke admired the man on the rock. Yes, she could (begrudgingly) admit he was easy on the eyes, especially as the moonlight helped highlight some of his best features. His eyes, his lips, his broad shoulders and arms seemed almost outlined by the faint light. She felt a need to come closer to him, to study those features, not only because of their allure, but also the warm tingling sensation she had whenever she noticed them. She liked that sensation. Suddenly, Clarke scorned herself, _Stop ogling!_ _Your sexual frustration is showing, dumbass._ She approached Bellamy.

"Oh, so you've changed your mind?" he asked.

"Yeah, not much to do in the tent." she murmured. She glanced to the landscape before them.

"Hey, sit down," he said. Clarke looked at him suspiciously. "What, we can share a tent but you can't sit your damn butt next to me?" he groaned.

The small blonde reluctantly sat down and focused her attention to glittering stream of water flowing down the valley of the mountain range. Besides that, it was too dark to look at anything else, so she closed her eyes and listened to the crickets. She could feel the harsh wind on her face, which surprisingly made her feel more alive then ever, almost rejuvenated. And while she knew it was totally her imagination, she felt she could sense Bellamy's aura, which somehow warmed her up a bit. Clarke opened her eyes and tilted her head upwards.

"Oh my God." she gasped.

"What?" Bellamy asked, then flicked his head upwards as well. "Oh- wow."

Up in the jet black sky were millions of stars, more than Clarke or Bellamy had ever seen in their lives. Infinite bright lights dotted the whole sky, like a dark blanket with wholes of light seeping through the stitches. They could not take their eyes of the expanse of the view, taking in every single little glowing dot.

Bellamy interrupted the silence and said, "Well since its June, I would suspect the Gemini constellation should be somewhere up there."

"How could you even tell? There's so many of them! I can't even find the big or little dipper."

"Hmmm" he pondered, and after a moment he blurted, "There! There it is!", he pointed towards the sky, which didn't really help Clarke.

"Describe it to me."

"Well, do you see those three super bright stars? The two on the left are the feet, and the other one is one of the heads. If you connect the smaller stars in between those bright ones, it might form sort of two stick figure shapes connected by the hand. It's kinda vague and hard to tell, so I could be wrong."

"Huh, never took you for the stargazer type, Bellamy." He glared at her. "I mean, I really do admire your ability. I honestly still have no idea where to find Gemini but I completely applaud your knowledge of stars. Did you major in space stuff?" He chuckled at Clarke's taunt.

"No, Antiquity Studies." Bellamy shrugged. "I wrote a small paper on the significance and historical context of the Zodiac, took it upon myself to learn how to find them." Clarke turned her head and stared at Bellamy. What a dork. He kept studying the stars, his dark eyes wide open and mouth agape as if in awe. Clarke found it well, kinda cute. _Why is Bellamy being cute? What the hell is happening?_ She swerved her head back up to face the sky, hoping she wasn't being to obvious.

"So how do you know Octavia?" he asked, catching Clarke off-guard.

"What- she's never told you? We've been friends since high school, Bellamy, you would know that."

"Yeah, but like, specifically. How exactly did you guys become friends? I mean, you guys aren't exactly twins, its kinda weird how you're friends."

Clarke felt offended at first, but then realized that he was right. Octavia and Clarke had been two totally different people in high school. Octavia was a free-spirit, and very much enjoyed to party during her teenage life. She didn't like authority, which led her into trouble occasionally and maybe more Ds than preferred. Clarke on the other hand, was the goody two shoes of the grade. She ran for class president, got exemplary grades and was the head of several clubs in the school. Somehow the two had crossed paths thanks to a particular person.

"Finn." She answered abruptly.

"What?"

Clarke sighed. This was going to be a long story. "Finn, if you remember, also went to Ark High." Bellamy shrugged. "Well, anyway, I had a massive crush on him for a good part of high school- Oh my God, this is so embarrassing!" She took a moment to collect herself, then continued. "He was always the laid-back guy, went to all the parties. He was cool. He was fun. So as a way to impress him- this is so stupid- I went to one of Roma's huge parties."

"I remember Roma. She was cute." Bellamy said. Clarke groaned and rolled her eyes making Bellamy snicker.

"Anyway! I imagine you've been to one of her parties, right?" she asked.

"Oh yeah, for sure. Those were a wild mess." he whistled.

"Well, you can imagine, how unprepared I, 16 year old Clarke Griffin, was to even approach those kinds of parties. I think the hardest I ever partied before that was when me and Wells played Mario Kart until 5 in the morning. That shit was crazy. Anyway, I was determined to show everyone and especially Finn that I could have fun. Or what they considered fun. So spent 4 hours at the mall trying the find the cutest dress, put makeup on for what was maybe the 3rd time in my life, and snuck out of the house away from my overprotective mom. I got to Roma's and immediately felt nervous, but I took a shot of vodka and went to find Finn."

"Princess doesn't let up does she?"

"Nope, unfortunately." she sighed. "In any case I talked to Finn, and it was just... so nice. And maybe it was just the alcohol we drank throughout the night but I feel like we really connected. We really opened our hearts to each other and it was really great. And the dream really came true once we started kissing, I couldn't even believe it was happening. After a while we stopped and I went to the bathroom to freshen up. I was fixing my makeup when I heard yelling down the hall, I peeked my head through the door and Raven was cursing at Finn for whatever reason. I didn't know her then, but once she started shouting about the kiss marks my lipstick left him, I pounced out of there. I was just heartbroken... and furious. In our time of opening up to each other, couldn't he have maybe, I don't know, mentioned he had a girlfriend? I drank more and then threw up in the bathroom, which is where I met-" she poked Bellamy, "your sister."

"Wow. That was quite the emotional rollercoaster. If I knew my sister was going to those kinds of parties, I would barricade the house."

"Shut up! Octavia can take better care of herself than I can. She handled the situation very well. She held my hair up while vomiting, and took me to your house to sleepover. Remember?"

"Oh trust me. I remember when I first met you. It took me a while to realize that the real Clarke Griffin was much more annoying than drunk Clarke Griffin. I was furious beyond belief for why O was bringing this crazy blond into the house."

"Really? Ha! I don't remember. Thankfully we became best friends after that night."

"Yeah" he paused, "So how are you still friends with Raven and Finn after that?"

Clarke took a deep breath and explained. "I mean, Finn did explain to Raven what happened and they did break up for a while but Raven and I grew close afterwards and I think we all realized it was all one big drunken mistake that neither Finn nor I ever wish to repeat. Also, they're like family, they've known each other forever. It's hard not to forgive family. I guess."

"Interesting. I never knew there was so much drama."

"Not so much anymore. I think our bickering covers the drama department of the group now."

"Yeah..." He sighed and gazed at her. After a long 8 seconds of him pouring his sad puppy dog eyes into her, Clarke felt awkward and stood up.

"Well, this has been nice. I should try going back to sleep, since talking to you is so boring." she quipped

Bellamy rolled his eyes and said once more "Princess doesn't let up does she?" Clarke smirked.

"Goodnight!" she chimed while turning her back to him. She smiled, because this was probably the best scenario a night stuck with Bellamy could be. Though she denied it, she secretly was excited for what the next day with him would hold.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol so now there's lots of character background explained! I kind of regret keeping Finn in the story, it's hard to find a way to forgive cheating, but I needed that extra ~drama~. Also Wicken wasn't really a thing (just hinted at) when I started this so it wasn't really in my mind for this story. I love Wicken but I don't want Finn to seem like more of a douchebag than he already is so... maybe I'll find a way to fit that in idk...


	5. Disappearing Act

Clarke woke up the next morning to find Bellamy's empty sleeping bag next to her. For an instant she felt, what was it, disappointment? She shook her head to clear the feeling, and started to slowly get out of her sleeping bag and change into more hiking appropriate clothes. The fresh morning air prickled her skin, though at this point Clarke was starting to grow used to the cold. Slipped her boots on and unzipped the tent door to find Lincoln just in front of her.

"Oh hey." He said, startled. "I was just about to wake you up. Did you sleep well?"

"Great, thank you." _Although I probably had like four hours of sleep_ , she then thought. She rubbed her eyes and asked, "How are you?"

"I'm good, I'm good." He glanced the camp kitchen. "Oh, by the way, I think we need some water for breakfast, do you mind getting some?"

Clarke yawned, "Sure. I'll get the water filter." Lincoln thanked her and and went to start up the stoves. Clarke chuckled at the sight of such a burly guy squatting over a puny stove, trying to light it carefully. She grabbed the water filter and groggily headed over to the stream. On her way, she stumbled into Jasper, who had just zipped up his pants.

"Jesus, Clarke!" he shrieked, eyes wider than she thought possible, "Can't you see I was peeing?!"

"Whoa, sorry." Clarke said with no hint of emotion, she had only been awake for a few minutes. "Won't happen again."

"Ugh, nevermind. As long as you didn't see anything." he grumbled, still fumbling with his pants. "Anyway what are you doing here?"

She lifted the water filter bag. "Water"

"Oh, yeah. Can I can come with? Kinda need to wash my hands anyway" Clarke groaned, she did not need to be reminded of what she just encountered.

"Yeah sure, come on." she answered. They trudged over the floor of decaying pine needles, following the sound of the stream. Quickly, they arrived at the rushing water, and as soon as Clarke knelt down and submerged the filter bag, she remembered a question that had been bugging her the whole night before.

"So, was Harper okay for the rest of the night?" she asked.

"Ummm... Yeah, kinda. We had a close call a few hours later, when I heard her getting out of her bag. Other than that, she was fine." He dipped his hands into the freezing water. "Son of a bitch! That's cold!" Clarke smirked. After frantically wiping his hands, the chatterbox continued the conversation, "Anyway, Harper is still vulnerable to her sleepwalking for now, so I think you'll be stuck with Bellamy for a few more nights. Maybe the whole trip, just to be safe." He looked at her and sputtered a "Sorry".

"Ugh, I don't if I could take him for that long. Last night went well but-"

"Last night went well? Ooooooh tell me! Could things finally be getting better between you and Bellamy?" he exclaimed.

"Don't get your hopes up, we only managed to sleep in the same tent for a night. Who knows what could happen next?"

"Still! Progress! A night without bickering could lead to a calm, peaceful trip" he sighed happily. Clarke wanted a calm trip as well, and so far it seemed possible. _So far_ , she reminded herself.

"Well, I think the filter is full, we should head back." Clarke interrupted. In silent agreement, both trotted over back to camp and admired the beauty of the wilderness. It was probably a little earlier than seven in the morning, as an orange glow peaked through the trees and started to warm the whole valley. Once back at camp, Clarke helped Lincoln heat up the water, some of which was to cook the oatmeal, the rest was for-

"Tea? Cider? Hot chocolate!" Clarke exclaimed as she searched through the plastic bag of drink packets. She found endless tea bags and little packs of powder that you could mix with hot water in order to make cider or hot chocolate. Though not the most gourmet, it was more than satisfying for Clarke's aching muscles and insatiable thirst. "Ahhhh... This feels so nice..." she hummed as she sipped her hot chocolate, warming her insides. She kept a mental note to try the cider next, though that didn't seem likely now, as friends slowly came trickling into the kitchen from their tents to grab a warm cup. They all huddled together sipping their hot drinks, taking in the moment and its silence. A gruff voice from behind broke the calm.

The voice was Bellamy. "What's up, guys?" He trudged over to them grinning, holding something tight in his palm.

"And where have you been, Bell?" Octavia quipped, raising her eyebrows.

"I found some...." He opened his hand, "Arrowheads!"

"WHOA." Monty exclaimed a little too loud. Everyone crowded around Bellamy except for Clarke, who, though interested, couldn't fit in the circle around Bellamy and was certainly not tall enough to peer over her friend's shoulders. She decided to stand on a rock nearby and look over their heads, though by the time she got a clear view, the circle broke and spotted Clarke. Raven stifled a laugh and the others smiled, while Clarke immediately regretted climbing the rock, she must've looked so stupid. Which she did, what with the confused look on her face, the craning of her neck and balancing on tippy toes.

"Get down here, shorty." Bellamy chuckled, his grin lighting up his face. She hopped of the rock keeping her head low, and approached Bellamy. Clarke studied the fine cut rock. Its edges were rugged but sharp, almost like Bellamy's breath as he stepped closer to her to also examine the artifact. She found herself studying every bit of Bellamy instead of looking at the arrowhead. His dark eyes, which could hide indescribable fury but also unnerving compassion, his countless freckles, which Clarke never really noticed before, and his lips, subconsciously parted slightly and very tempting. She then caught the split second before he turned his head, which in turn she darted hers back to the attention of the arrowhead, barely blushing. She hoped he hadn't noticed her gaze.

Bellamy closed his hand and turned to Clarke. "Pretty cool right? Think I might bring it back home, a nice souvenir of the trip, right?"

"What?" Clarke furrowed her eyebrows. "You can't do that. This park is government property, leave it where it is."

Bellamy wrinkled his nose in annoyance. "Are you serious? Why you gotta take the fun out of everything?"

"It's illegal, Bellamy."

"What are they gonna do, search me? Come on, Clarke, haven't you ever broken the law?"

"Yes. I have. But those were stupid laws. This one I think we should actually respect, I mean, that's a legit artifact."

"Maybe I'll donate it to a museum, or my college.", he retorted.

"When you obtained it illegally? Nice try, Bellamy. They won't accept that."

Bellamy was now clearly frustrated, and stuffed the piece into his pocket. "Learn to live, princess." he spat. Clarke was fuming but he had already marched back to the kitchen, to cook breakfast with Finn and Monty. _Well,_ she thought, _there goes that_. There could only be so many close calls, and for that she extensively prayed they could manage to avoid each other for the rest of the day.

-

When Lincoln told her today would be the hardest day, she thought he was joking. Unfortunately for her, today's hike would be zig-zagging up the mountain, a full 4 miles on a steep incline, and then another 2 down the mountain. Clarke felt like she was slowly dying, the lack of sleep from the night before draining her of any strength. If that wasn't already bad, the heat was unbearable and she had never been so sweaty, drenching her shirt with perspiration. Clarke desperately missed showering, she was stinky and dirty and tired and basically just gross. She relished any break they took, _just any_. She was beginning drop way behind the rest of the group until they decided it was time for a lunch break. Clarke rejoiced as she took her pack off, her hips and shoulders were sore as hell, and she collapsed into a nearby patch of grass.

"AUUUGH" she groaned, spreading her limbs out. Harper giggled and offered to give her a massage, to which Clarke exasperatingly replied, "Just leave me here to die."

She took a brief nap as the others prepared lunch. Once Miller woke her up, she gazed at the meal laid out before her and her friends. Bagels, PB & J, trailmix, even Monty's nutella, were shared amongst the group as they laughed in ease. Clarke felt a pang of guilt. Here she was, complaining and taking a nap while her friends were being active and supportive, even being as kind as to take the bagels and PB & J out of her bear can so her pack would be less heavy. She had, once again, let her friends down for selfish reasons, or so she thought. She promised herself she would work harder to get in better shape so she stick with the friends she came here to spend time with in the first place. Clarke trudged over to sit with her friends, who were just finishing their portions of bagels.

"Well, look who's up!" Raven congratulated.

"Yeah, ha ha." Clarke answered. She picked up a bagel slice an slathered peanut butter on it quickly, desperate to get something in her stomach.

"We ought to call you a narcoleptic! Jasper told us all about last night." Clarke's eyes shot open at the hint, and glared daggers at Jasper. Jasper shrugged and feigned innocence, though Clarke's glare clearly intimidated him.

"I-I'm so sorry! It won't happen again! I was just so tired and I-"

"It's fine." Octavia interrupted, "Besides-"

"You're sharing a tent with Bellamy, right?" Finn pointed out. It sounded a little weird coming from him, Clarke hoped it wasn't jealousy, Finn was better than that.

Sweat beaded Clarke's face. "Um, yeah. Unfortunately." She made an awkward smile, hoping the subject would change. "Actually, where is Bellamy?"

"He went to go pee or something." Miller said as he shuffled a pack of cards. "He should be back soon. Anyone wanna play a game of BS?"

"I'll pass." Clarke said. She still had a bagel to finish. She watched as her friends bantered as they slammed their cards down in a pile, arguing who was BS-ing the card they had just laid down. Monty kept winning, as no one had the heart to question the validity of the angel's cards, except for maybe Jasper who was always wrong. She laughed at all the accusations her friends threw at each other, they could be so pleasantly ridiculous sometimes.

Time passed by and Clarke grabbed her sketchbook and sat high on a rock to get a good view of the valley. She drew at least 3 pages full of bushes, rocky cliffs, and even the small glimpse of the Mt. Weather military base door hidden in the shrubbery. She felt her energy restored as she drew, the cool breeze whipping through her hair and cooling her sweat drenched shirt. Nothing was more peaceful than studying the nature in front of her, she thought. After what she felt was enough for the day, she returned back to the lunch spot to find her friends looking distraught.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Bellamy's not back yet! It's been more than an hour!" Octavia burst out frantically. Clarke groaned, _What is this guy with disappearing?_ "Where could he have gone? I don't understand!"

"He's probably out there doing some stupid shit, like finding more arrowheads to steal." she complained. She was so tired of his shit.

"Clarke this isn't funny!" Jasper yelled from the distance. "What if he gets lost? How many people are we going to have to keep from walking around stranded?"

"Shut up!" Harper cried. Even Lincoln who kept his calm looked seriously concerned, which made Clarke reconsider the urgency of the situation. She twiddled her sketchbook in her hands before she realized...

"That ASSHOLE!" she cried, "HE PROBABLY WENT TO GO CHECK OUT THE DOOR TO THE MILITARY BASE!!" Clarke was absolutely furious. She stamped over to the edge of the trail, heading down towards the valley. "LINCOLN, OCTAVIA, COME WITH ME. I'M GONNA GO KICK THIS SHITHEAD SO FAR DOWN THE GROUND HE'LL REACH THAT STUPID MILITARY BASE."

The couple rushed over to her and they headed down to valley, yelling for Bellamy as they went. Clarke was seething, she could not believe the stunts this guy pulled. She knew giving him a major asskicking wouldn't help her promise to Octavia much, but at this point, she could not care any less. Suddenly, they heard the sound of whistle and a far away cry.

The three whipped their heads around towards the noise. If he was really using the emergency whistle then something pretty bad must've happened. Clarke's anger instantly washed away with worry. The image of him hurt broke her heart.

 _Bellamy_...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since chapter 4 was posted, the amount of kudos, bookmarks and hits doubled! Thank you guys so much!  
> Also I guess Bellamy has habit of disappearing now? He's very anti-authority here, or maybe just anti-Clarke lol. He won't be much anymore though hohohoho!


	6. Making Amends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this took so long!!! what can I say, I had a lot of school stuff to do since I last wrote this. this is sort of a thing i write when i feel up to it, so sorry if you were really looking forward to this chapter! but it's summer now, so hopefully i can write more...
> 
> also: i have like zero medical knowledge, so if there's anything wrong with all the medical stuff clarke is doing, a comment telling me so would be greatly appreciated! otherwise, it's fanfiction, don't expect it to be realistic i guess lol

Clarke, Octavia and Lincoln shuddered at the sound of the whistle again and rushed in the direction of the noise. Clarke could feel her body tingling from her anxiousness, hands almost shivering at every terrible situation she feared Bellamy might be in. Was he hurt? How badly was he hurt? Oh shit- what if he got paralyzed? She trembled at the thought of him being beyond repair, if anything she wanted to do everything in her power to help. But what if her medical abilities weren't enough, what if she couldn't save him from whatever trouble he got himself into? _You're overreacting_ , she persuaded herself, _this is probably some dumb stunt_.

"Oh my God I hope he's okay!" Octavia sputtered. Her brow was furrowed in worry, as fear betrayed her usual cool demeanor. Suddenly a cry for help seemed eerily close, and the group shot their heads to the right. "B-Bellamy?!" Octavia cried.

"Over here!" a faint voice answered. They sprinted towards it. As the voice grew closer they halted their steps, almost sliding across the dirt, and peered over the edge of a small hill of loose dirt and rocks. Under it, a familiar mop of brown curls turned to show Bellamy's pained yet twinkling eyes.

"What's up guys?" he managed.

Clarke felt a rush of relief, but then remembered that he could be seriously hurt, and then got angry. "What the hell happened?" she spat. Lincoln jumped down to help Bellamy in this mess of rocks.

"Nice to see you too, Princess." he grumbled. "I guess I had a little slip."

"A little slip?! Jesus, Bellamy, this looks like _127 Hours_ to me!" Octavia exclaimed. She wasn't wrong. Bellamy was stuck in the crevice of the pile of rocks that fell on him. If Clarke wasn't so worried at the moment, she probably would've laughed right in front of his stupid face for accidentally replicating the movie. Instead, she hopped down to help Lincoln remove the rocks one by one. Octavia joined too, and soon they uncovered Bellamy, who decorated with a huge gash on his side, bleeding tremendously. Clarke stared at the wound intensely, worrying the others.

"You can fix this... right?" Bellamy asked. His voice wavered and as she glanced her eyes up at him, she was struck by the sheer terror his eyes bore.

She cleared her throat and said, "I wouldn't say fix is the right term." Bellamy's mouth dropped open. "Hold on! Yes, I can _help it heal!_ It's seems like just a flesh wound, it'll only need some gauze, maybe stitches."

"Okay..." He winced as Lincoln helped him up, sweat beading his brow as he tried to suppress the pain in his side. "I guess we go back to the others now?"

"Uh sure, I guess..." She glanced in the direction of Octavia, then Lincoln, for looks of approval.

"It's fine, I can still walk back. I can't stay here anyway." Bellamy assured. He didn't look fine at all, but it'd be safer to get back to their friends. Clarke bit her lip, worried something else might happen to him if he wasn't careful during the strenuous hike back.

"You go ahead, Doctor Clarke." Octavia ordered. "Tell the others what happened and get the first aid kit, we'll handle this doofus here." she said as she helped her brother climb the cascade of rocks back up to where they came from.

"Alright..." Clarke's voice wavered. She gave Bellamy one last look, who stared back at her with heaving breath and pained eyes, before glancing down and wincing again at his wound. Clarke turned and jogged back to the lunch site, determined to prove herself useful. As she ran, she couldn't help but think about Bellamy's eyes, and the hurt they bore into her.

-

The wait for Bellamy, Octavia and Lincoln to return was long and nerve racking for the rest of the group. Clarke held the first aid kit tightly, repeating to herself over and over the steps she would take to take care of Bellamy's wound. She became nervous at the thought of actually having to treat someone outside of school, and severely hoped she wouldn't mess it up. _Don't be silly, you know exactly what to do_ , she thought, trying to comfort herself. Soon enough, Bellamy appeared on the trail, leaning on Lincoln and Octavia as he struggled to walk. Seeing he was clearly in pain, the others rushed towards him, hoping to help.

"Thanks you guys, but we need to get him to Clarke." Octavia grumbled. They then got Bellamy to lay down in front of Clarke, and cleared the are for her to work. Clarke's hands hesitated as she looked at the gaping wound. Sure, she knew exactly what to do, but the fact that it was her friend in front of her who was hurt made her second guess every move. Still, she took a deep breath and got work. She started to clean the wound, wincing as she heard Bellamy's pained grunts. She could see Octavia squeezing her brother's hand, looking surprisingly calm. Since the injury was bleeding out too much, Clarke decided to stitch it up, even though it hurt her to hear Bellamy in pain. The rest of the group intently watched the process, not uttering a word to bother Clarke.

Thankfully, Clarke had successfully patched Bellamy up a bit, and gave him some strong painkillers to last the rest of the day. She was totally relieved, now seeing Bellamy slightly smile as he told their friends what had happened, and also rolling his eyes at their worried remarks.

She heard Raven berating him with a "Bellamy! How could you have been so stupid? Why didn't you tell anyone you were going?"

"Ughhh, I thought I'd be there for just a few minutes, nothing would've happened if I just looked where I was going. Plus I offered Finn to come with me, right?" Bellamy retorted.

"WHAT? FINN WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US??" Raven blurted as she looked menacingly towards Finn.

"Wha- Bellamy, I thought you were joking when you told me that!" Finn exclaimed, "You made it sound totally sarcastic! Honestly, who would just straight up walk to the Mt. Weather military base during lunch?" He tried to calm Raven down, while Bellamy vaguely shrugged.

"Okay... So how are we gonna get to camp now?" Miller asked, "Should we stay here?"

Lincoln answered "No, there isn't anywhere good here to camp. I say we keep following the trail to the planned camping spot near the creek." The group looked worried. "The trail really only goes downhill from now on, so it should be much easier than the incline we did earlier. I think with some more recuperation time here, Bellamy can probably do the rest of the trip with us in decent shape. What do you think, Bellamy?" He looked at Bellamy.

"I think..." Bellamy said, "That if you give me an hour or two to rest... I might be able to walk the whole way to the campsite." He grinned, then coughed.

There was a long pause. "So there we have it I guess..." Monty offered, "How about another round of BS you guys?" Everyone cheered.

-

On the trek to the next campsite, everyone worried over Bellamy. Though he insisted he was fine, the group made sure to have a short break every 15 minutes so he could gather strength to keep walking. Clarke now had someone to walk with in the back of the line, slowly drifting from the others. She and Bellamy had talked the whole way, starting a new friendship. She learned a lot about Bellamy; his classes, his aspirations, that time he accidentally shot Principle Jaha with a water balloon in high school. They found out they both liked the same bands, and even promised if there was ever a concert they wanted to go to, they would invite the other. Just now, things were going remarkably well for the two, despite Bellamy being badly injured. It was almost a shame that the hike itself had to end, since they were really enjoying each other's company.

Once the group finally reached their camp destination for the night, they were quick to set up camp, especially a small spot were Bellamy could rest and Clarke could treat him. It was still early in the afternoon, and the weather was nice. So nice that Raven and Octavia stripped to their underwear and jumped into a small pool attached to the creek. Soon, everyone joined except for Clarke and Bellamy, who were still winded from the trek. The group splashed at each other and laughed frequently, as well as jumped off rocks and formed massive canon balls as they dove into the water. Everyone could now finally relax after the stressful hike and Bellamy's injury.

Later, everyone started getting out of the pool. "We're going to check out what's upstream." Harper shouted to Clarke and Bellamy, who were chilling out further away.

"Alright, have fun you crazy kids!" Clarke shouted back. She heard a light chuckle from Bellamy. "God, they don't stop do they? I'm still exhausted." she said.

"Yeah, me too." Bellamy replied as he stared at their friends happily trotting up the stream. They slowly moved out of Clarke and Bellamy's view, leaving the two alone. Bellamy turned to his side and winced, and Clarke quickly reacted.

"Is everything alright? Do you want me to check it out again?" she asked worriedly, hovering her hands over his wound.

"No- no, it's fine." He said, "I just feel like I'm burning, like my side is burning." He stood up, still wincing from the pain.

"Well - wait, let me help!" she hollered, however it was too late, Bellamy left and headed towards the pool. He took off his shirt and submerged himself into the water.

"Ooooooh that feels nice!" he hummed. Clarke rushed over to the pool in utter disbelief.

"You sure? I don't think you should put your injury underwater, it's still not completely closed. Also, I'm not sure about how clean this water is."

"Trust me, princess." he interjected, "I have never felt better in my life." He then dipped his head underwater, then reemerged with a refreshed 'aaahhh' escaping his mouth.

"Okay..." Clarke said. She turned around to leave when Bellamy shouted

"Hey what's the hurry? Shouldn't you be supervising my injury?", saying the phrase  _supervising my_ _injury_ in a mocking voice.

"Pffff. Supervision my ass. Like I can stop you from doing anything at this point." she retorted. "You got yourself into this mess anyway, supervise your own damn injury."

"But I'm not a doctor, Clarke." he whimpered, clearly enjoying bothering her.

"Neither am I, Bellamy. Need I remind you I'm training to be a doctor? Oh wait! I actually think I remember being called a prissy med student by a certain someone." she quipped.

Bellamy's face froze for a split second, then softened. "Yeah, I'm sorry about that..." he said while scratching his neck, "I really do appreciate what you did for me there, it takes a lot to fix someone like that you know?" He paused for a moment, glancing at his bandaged wound, then back to her. "Thank you Clarke. Sorry for being an asshole."

Clarke could not believe her ears. Never in her life had she imagined Bellamy Blake would be apologizing to her, and thanking her at the same time. Bellamy had really changed in her eyes, in only the span of a little more than a day. Perhaps this was a new beginning for the two. "I'm sorry too." she said. "I know I can be a bit much at times, but it's only because I care about you." _Oh shit_ , she thought. Did she really just say that? "Uhhh, care about you... Like I care about everyone else!" she corrected. Nailed it.

Bellamy stayed quiet for awhile, which in turn really worried Clarke. He then stood up and held his hand out to her. "Can you help me get out?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah, sure." She said, grabbing his hand. She then felt a tug of force pull her into the pool suddenly, and fell into the cold water enshrouding her suddenly. After registering what was happening, she shot up out of the water, angrily yelling "BELLAMY WHAT THE FUCK??!!" as she moved her wet hair out of her eyes. She then used all her strength to push him underwater, dunking him for a quick few seconds. She laughed as his frustrated face emerged, while she took in the victory of sweet, sweet revenge.

Bellamy laughed too and said "I guess I deserved that." Clarke laughed even harder, causing her to slip on mossy rock at the bottom of the pool. She was sure her head would meet the cold water once again, but then she felt a hand quickly placed on the small of her back and pull her from falling. The force of the pull was so strong, she collided with Bellamy, almost knocking him over too. Fortunately, Bellamy stayed grounded and they didn't fall. Unfortunately, Clarke's face was now smashed onto Bellamy's naked torso, her lips awkwardly pressed against his collarbone. For a second, she registered the way Bellamy felt, it was warm and secure, and how he smelled kinda nice, despite him sweating all day. She was practically in his arms before she pushed away suddenly, unable to bear the awkward embrace. She glanced up at Bellamy, embarrassed.

"Thanks." She murmured, then avoided his eyes. Her face had turned bright red. She felt an unfamiliar sensation, like a giddy schoolgirl. Ew.

Bellamy glanced away and cleared his throat. "No problem." he said. He looked back at her and shifted his feet. "That's what friends do right?" he chimed.

Clarke widened her eyes for a moment. _Well, I guess this is a thing that is happening_ , she thought. She lightly smiled at Bellamy.

"Yeah... friends."


	7. I Don't Get Bored With You Guys

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god I don't know what's up with my wifi/browser/computer but ao3 legitimately will not load on my computer idk why. So if you're wondering why this took so long, well, it's because I'm basically gonna have to write everything from my phone now which sucks. Anyway hope you like the new chapter!

After Clarke's awkward fall, she left the pool sputtering her quick excuse to Bellamy that she was going to read a book. She needed to relax after the long day, without having to keep an eye on Bellamy all the time. This time, she could keep her eyes glued to her Game of Thrones book, and her mind off of the earlier embarrassing events. Bellamy seemed to be enjoying his time alone too, napping in the sun to dry off. Clarke realized this was maybe the first moment of tranquility she had throughout the whole trip.

"SALAMANDER MAN! SALAMANDER MAN! SALAMANDER MAN!" echoed through the camp, and Clarke soon recognized the shouts as her friends' voices. She craned her head to see the commotion coming from upstream. The whole gang was shouting the name, except for a slightly annoyed Finn who trudged ahead of the group. Clarke had to blink a few times to register what on Earth was happening. 

"HEY!", Bellamy yelled, "WHAT IS THIS SALAMANDER MAN NONSENSE THAT WOKE ME UP FROM MY NAP" Finn walked faster to greet Bellamy and to escape the cult behind him. 

"Just- Just ignore them" he laughed nervously. "Telling them to shut the fuck up won't work... Trust me I've tried." Clarke noticed his clothes were wet.

"SALAMANDER MAN! Come back to us!" Jasper complained as he ran towards Finn. He latched onto Finn's arm and pretended to faint. "Now what would we ever do without our hero Salamander Man?" He said, imitating a southern belle. Finn sighed. 

Clarke walked down towards them as the rest of the group joined in. "What the hell is going on?" She asked. Everyone grinned. 

"Okay so we're waking near the stream, and we reach this little pond, right?" Monty started, "And we're just talking, taking in nature and whatnot. But suddenly-" he pauses, motioning Finn, "this guy just stops in his tracks and screams SALAMANDER!"

"I didn't scream" Finn barked

"Shhhh Finn... Its okay, whatever you want" Raven shushed. However, she clearly would not leave the story untold, much to Finn's chagrin. "So Finn just rushes over to the water, squats down and just is totally captivated by this salamander he spotted. Meanwhile, total silence falls over us, because we are just trying to understand what the hell Finn is doing. Then, he tells us, straight faced, this long story about how when he was a kid, he invented a superhero called Salamander Man, and how he always dreamed of catching one. Then he starts swatting the water, trying to catch this stupid salamander. At this point no one understands what the fuck is going on, and we're just watching in awe. THEN, Finn lunges for the water, and falls in head first, completely out of nowhere, yelling 'SALAMANDER MAN!' Then he comes out acting like nothing happened, and we're just staring at this poor drenched nerd." Raven looked like she was dying just trying to keep the laughter in, and no one else could manage to stifle a chuckle. Bellamy and Clarke cried with laughter at the story. _This_  was why they were yelling Salamander Man?

Everyone joined in the laughter, even Finn managed to smile a little as Raven kissed him on the cheek. Bellamy laughed so hard the wound on his side started to hurt, and he doubled over with pain for a brief second, but then quickly recovered and continued to laugh harder. The caused another uproar of laughter, and Clarke decided she could not be any happier. 

-

Dinner came around quickly, and everyone served themselves to the pasta Jasper and Harper had cooked. Jasper and Harper then performed the Salamander Man theme song they came up with when they were preparing dinner, which was met with a loud applause. Clarke was surprised to find Bellamy sitting next to her, but she wasn't necessarily bothered by it. 

After dinner, she changed the bandages on Bellamy's gash and cleaned it up a bit more. Bellamy himself seemed to be doing better, he barely flinched while she cleaned his wound. "Those pain-killers are pretty effective now." he mumbled. 

"Are they now?" she questioned. "I hope they last all night for you then."

"Oh trust me, I hope so too." He said, "Although I doubt sleeping with the pain would make me more restless than sleeping with you."

Clarke suddenly stopped tending to the gash, furiously thinking WAIT WHAT. Bellamy must've been able to read her face, because he too realized what he had just said.

"Oh shit- uh... I didn't mean like that!" He sputtered, "I meant- 'cause like you annoy me a lot... Therefore making it hard to sleep because you annoy me... Uh...." He sighed. "That was worded... Very poorly. I swear I did not mean it in any other way."

Clarke laughed nervously. "Good. Because for a second there, it sounded like you were hitting on me." Bellamy groaned and covered his face with his hands. 

"I really wasn't! I swear!!" His muffled voice mumbled from behind his hands. 

"Alright Bellamy, I believe you," Clarke said sarcastically, eliciting another groan from him.  

After patching Bellamy back up, they went to their tent and slipped into their sleeping bags. This, normally, would be no problem, but this time an air of awkwardness surrounded them. They could barely talk to eachother, and spread their sleeping bags as far away from eachother as possible, fearing that anything they did could be interpreted as romantic interest. Finally settled in their sleeping bags, Clarke couldn't handle the silence any longer, so she hummed the Salamander Man theme song from earlier. Bellamy quickly objected with a "I swear to God Clarke, if I hear that song one more time, you'll be the one who needs painkillers."

"Looks like you finally learned how to word your sentences properly, huh, Bellamy?" She quipped while turning around to flash him a shit-eating grin.  

"Oh my God Clarke, I hate you!" He groaned, "Why am I the only one here who gets to be annoyed by you!" Clarke's grin grew wider. 

"Because you annoy me, doofus! I mean, you're the one who ran off to Mt. Weather when I told you not to, and then you got hurt!"

Bellamy paused, trying to think of a comeback. He couldn't attack head-on but then he thought of a different angle. "But I'm not the only one who annoys you... Your ex-boyfriend does too."

"Finn? I never dated Finn."

"Oh right... Have you even dated anybody at all?" He smirked

"Wha- of course I have! Do you think I'm some batty old maid or something?"

"I don't know, prove me you're not."

"Seriously? Ok FINE. I had a wonderful, two year relationship with a beautiful girl named Lexa, are you happy?"

"How did it end?"

"Why are you so interested in my past relationships, Bellamy?!" She whispered angrily. 

"Whoa, ok, sorry." he apologized, "I guess for you this is a dicey topic. I'll stop."

"I mean..." Clarke sighed. "It's not dicey, just complicated. I guess you could say Lexa and I wanted different things in life, and we had to go our separate ways." 

"Fair enough." Bellamy answered, "I mean, thats better than what I've ever had. I don't think I've ever been in a serious relationship for more than three months. Pretty sad, really."

"Really? Are you a player, Bellamy?" Now came the return of the shit-eating grin. 

"No! I take very good care of all my significant others, thank you very much. Never ever cheated." He paused for a second, thinking. "I guess I just get bored of them easily..." He turned over on his back, blankly staring at the tent ceiling.

Silence came over the two. Clarke could tell he had just opened up to her something really personal, and she tried to think of the right thing to say. She squirmed her arm out of her sleeping bag, and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Look, Bellamy, love is hard to find. It comes out of nowhere. To me, it sounds like you rush into stuff without thinking, like the Mt. Weather incident today." He turned his head to look at her, and now both made eye contact. Clarke continued, "And I mean, rushing into stuff is fun, but... The fun doesn't last forever. A relationship sometimes requires work to make it last. If you find that work boring then... Well, maybe you shouldn't rush into stuff so much." She paused, glancing to the side looking embarrassed. "I hope that makes sense."

"It made sense." he said bluntly. Clarke's eyes returned to look at Bellamy's. "Anyway, at least I never get bored with all you guys. Especially you, Princess."

"Is that even a compliment?" She snickered. She turned off her flashlight and turned to her side. "Anyway goodnight, Burrito Blake." She heard a groan from his side of the tent and chuckled. "I don't get bored with you either."


	8. Encounter

Clarke woke up to the sound of birds chirping and water rushing in the stream nearby. Sunlight poked through the tent and the whole forest seemed at ease. She stroked her hair out of her face and sighed happily, it seemed for once on this trip she slept really well. As she tried to slip out of her sleeping bag, she felt something strong hold her back. She turned around slightly only to find an arm was wrapped tightly around her waist, keeping her close to its owner. Clarke's heartbeat sped up as she turned her head further to see who the arm belonged to, hoping it wasn't who she thought it was... oh shit...

Bellamy was snuggled close to Clarke, his hot breath sometimes touching her neck, and his body pressing into hers.  _WHAT THE HELL???_ She thought, mentally cursing over and over. She looked around for an opening under his grip but found that there was no way of escaping without waking him up. Exasperated, she thought,  _What do I do?? Wake him up?_ , she looked over to Bellamy's peaceful sleeping face, O _n second thought, NO. Grumpy, tired Bellamy is the last thing I need right now_. She slipped back into her bag, admitting defeat. 

If she let Bellamy wake up 'before' her, she could easily pretend nothing ever happened, he would quickly realize his mistake, and the two could go on normally. Clarke tried to settle into the little spoon position, but then realized that on second thought, maybe grumpy Bellamy was a better alternative to warm, and VERY close Bellamy. Still, she stayed put. She could feel his chest rise and fall from every breath he took, and his arm try to tug her closer. Clarke felt her head get hotter as her face turned red. She couldn't understand why, because cuddling with sleeping bags on is possibly the least sexy thing ever. Still, she felt oddly comfortable in this position, feeling Bellamy's hot breath landing on her neck every so often. She let herself drift back to sleep, once again at perfect ease, nothing could disturb her-

"OH MY GOD WHERE IS THE FOOD?!!" Someone in the camp cried. Bellamy instantly woke up, retracting his arm without even noticing who was under it. Clarke's eyes shot open, but also noticed the weight on her waist was missing. "WHERE. IS. THE. FOOOOOOD????" The person yelled again. 

Bellamy glanced at Clarke while as he started to put on his shoes. "What are you laying there for? Something's happening!" He then bolted out the tent, leaving Clarke bewildered.  _Just when I start to feel something..._ She mused, but cleared the rest of the thought from ever happening. She then begrudgingly exited the tent, only to find mass hysteria.

Clarke witnessed her friends run in all directions searching under tents, behind boulders, and even up in trees. She caught the attention of Monty, who was covered in twigs and leaves and almost twitching in frustration. "Monty, what is going on?" she asked, noticing Bellamy approach to join the conversation.

"All- All the bear cans are gone! There's no food! No hot chocolate! NO NUTELLA!" Monty sputtered, seeming more worried with every sentence. "We're dead! Oh dear God we're dead!"

Bellamy and Clarke exchanged concerned looks. "Well, hold on Monty, the food can't have just disappeared." Bellamy speculated, "Someone must've stolen all of it."

"Someone stole the food?" Monty stammered. "Wha- Bellamy, that's stupid! Who would steal all our food? We're the only ones here!"

"I don't know, a bear?"

"Bears can't open the cans! That's the whole point of bear cans, so bears can't eat our food!"

"Doesn't mean they can't steal them and try!" Bellamy snapped.

"Okay stop it you two!" Clarke scolded as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "This is going nowhere. Right now, we need this whole mess organized." She marched over towards the boulder in the center of camp, where the kitchen was before the food was stolen. She climbed on top of the boulder and cleared her throat to get attention from the rest of the group, to no avail. She then resorted to screaming "EVERYBODY STOP! LISTEN TO ME!". The hysteria stopped abruptly, everyone turned their heads over to Clarke.

"Oh hey, what's up Clarke?" Raven asked while popping out of bush, just now noticing her presence. Clarke groaned.

"Hi Raven." Clarke answered, exasperated. "Okay, so..." She looked around the body of people looking at her, trying to find someone responsible. "Lincoln." she said, "What is the situation we're in?"

Lincoln, looked around, at a loss of words. "We...", It took him a few moments to answer, "have no food."

"Well, to put simply, yes." She stated. To her misfortune, the guy who's job it was to organize outdoorsy trips wasn't really helping much. "But help me out, here! What do you think happened to the food?"

"Uhhhhhh, the cans could've rolled away somewhere, I guess, but there's not trace of anything being able to push them to the side." He crouched and looked around, trying to find clues left in the dirt. Clarke leaned in too, and shifted her eyes into eagle mode. Everyone else peered in to see if they could find anything, which ended up to be nothing. Lincoln sighed. "Maybe someone did take them... A very stealthy person at least, there's no marks. But honestly I've never seen anything like this before in my time with the Grounders."

"Oooooooh my god we're gonna starve to death." Monty whimpered. A collective murmur of worry arose between the group, and everyone suddenly got antsy. Clarke racked her brain for a solution to this desperate situation. There had to be one, right?

Lincoln proposed the rational decision. "We should turn around and head back, if we don't get side tracked we can maybe get back to the parking lot in a day." Clarke and the rest agreed but Octavia snapped.

"What? We can't just let this guy take our food! He took like 10 cans for Christ's sake!" She belted, surprising her boyfriend. "We came all the way here just to give up now? Come on you guys I thought this was our special trip! Let's get the bastard!"

Everyone looked at each other solemnly. Octavia was right, this was a really important trip, the gang hadn't been reunited like this for years. But this also seemed like one of the craziest things to come out of her mouth. "How do you even suggest we find this person? Risk our whole day trying to get them when we could be safely walking back to civilization?" Raven asked.

"Either way we'd be starving! Anyway, the cans can't have gone far, and we probably outnumber this dude. I say we go catch 'em right now, and get our food back! Who's with me?"

"Octavia, you know I will always love and support you." Bellamy started. "But this honestly sounds like the stupidest idea ever and you're gonna get us all killed. How are we gonna eat if we can't find the cans?" Octavia pouted.

"We could hunt! Lincoln, you know how to hunt, right?" She nudged Lincoln. He smiled but shrugged once Octavia turned to face Bellamy. "See? Mr. Wilderness agrees! We can pull this off!! We can supply ourselves with food! I mean, we still have the water filters, so water's not a problem!" Bellamy and Clarke turned to face each other, both making unsure faces. This could not be happening.

Unfortunately, everyone else seemed to get on board. They really didn't want to redo the trek they had been walking for two days, and Jasper seemed especially excited to start 'hunting'. Clarke looked in Lincoln for some sense of reason, but he seemed won over by Octavia as well. Her dependence on his supposed skill of hunting seemed to give him a lot more confidence. Clarke groaned. _Well, if I die at least I won't have to go through midterms this year_.

In the mess of young adults, Octavia assigned Raven, Monty, Lincoln and Jasper on hunting and food gathering duty, while the rest was to search for the thief. "Finn and I will go West. Miller and Harper, you guys try North. Clarke and Bellamy, up the creek. Got it? We meet back here in two hours" She ordered. Clarke wanted to protest, but at this point it was too late, everyone was off. She and Bellamy sighed, and started trudging upstream.

"This is a disaster." She said.

"Agreed." He answered.

- 

The walk wasn't entirely bad. The creek was shaded by all the trees and it was still morning, so heat wasn't one of their many problems. In fact, Clarke and Bellamy were in too much of a state of defeat to really care anymore. They hiked in silence, as nothing really felt important to say considering they were going to die eventually. They tried to focus on the sounds of the rustling leaves, the rushing creek, the bird songs, just to take their minds off certain doom. Would anyone hear them when they died? Probably not.

After hiking nonstop with nothing exciting to see, they paused and sat down in the shade of an oak tree for a break. Clarke contemplated what she would do with the remaining hours where she wouldn't be starving to death. Maybe look back on all she's done in her life? _No, that's boring._ Question her reason to live on this stupid planet anyway? _Eh, why put thought into this, I'm gonna die anyway._ Make out with Bellamy? _Whoa, where did that come from?_ Taking her out of her thoughts, she noticed a small sniffling noise from the person beside her. She slowly turned to look.

Clarke scooted back in surprise to see Bellamy crying. Well, he hadn't exactly shed any tears or anything yet, but his eyes were puffy and red and he definitely seemed like he was about to. She sat frozen, not knowing what to do, and unfortunately could not tear her eyes away from his distress. Bellamy sharply turned his head away as soon as he noticed her gaze, but his sniffles gave him away. Clarke quickly glanced at her feet, awkwardly avoiding the situation. She mentally cursed herself, _What are you doing? Talk to him!!_

She bit her lip, looked back towards the back of his head. She managed to utter, "Bellamy... Is everything okay?" Bellamy tensed at the question, sniffling even harder. No response. "Hey, we're gonna be fine, alright? This is just a bump in the road, it'll soon be over. We'll catch the guy, get the food, and we'll be fine." She paused. "You don't have to worry, just tell me what's wrong. I mean, if you want." She groaned internally at what was probably her worst effort at comforting someone.

Bellamy still didn't respond, and Clarke felt hopeless. She felt like dying as the few moments of silence drained her of her energy. Luckily, he seemed to have calmed down, and muttered something. Clarke perked up. "What was that?"

His voice was clearer now, as he answered gruffly "I'm a bad person." Clarke's eyes widened.

"What? No you're not!" She sputtered quickly. "I mean, you can be annoying sometimes, but not bad!" He did not look comforted in the slightest. Almost facepalming, she managed to say something more eloquent, "Bellamy, you're not a bad person. Trust me."

"But I am, though. I'm a bad person and now I'm going to die a bad person." He shuddered. "I'm terrible. I don't care about how anybody feels, I get bored of them easily, I'm just so... selfish. I've hurt so many people but didn't do anything about it, I just ran away. Now its all over." He paused. " Jesus Christ, I'm gonna die alone."

Clarke tensed at every word Bellamy uttered. She couldn't possibly have imagined the amount of emotional baggage he had, and wasn't quite sure how to handle it. She thought he would be more similar to Octavia, who didn't cry, ever, unless she was PMS-ing. Still, Clarke scooted closer to him, and managed to give him a caring look. "Bellamy..." She placed her hand on his, causing him to turn and look at her. As he bore his eyes into hers, the heat between their hands seemed to get warmer. "You're not going to die, and if you do, you definitely won't be alone. I mean, everyone in this camp will be here for you. Octavia loves you and I..." Clarke caught herself. "I'll be here whenever you need me. Everyone will. Just know that nobody here thinks you're a bad person."

"It's just... I'm sorry. The whole Mt. Weather thing and the insults, I was just thinking of myself, like I do all the time. I hardly think about what other people want, I just... I'm so shitty." He sighed. "This isn't even really about you guys honestly, but I still feel totally shitty about everything."

Clarke entangled her fingers with his, squeezing his hand assuringly. "Whatever happened, do you wanna talk about it?" she asked. Bellamy shook his head no, and then rested it on her shoulder. They sat there like that for a little while, taking in the silence. "I just want you to know, that this isn't the end. Whatever you did, you can still fix. I mean look at us! Two days ago we were screaming at each other and now we're holding hands!" He chuckled.

"Yeah." He answered, seeming to feel better. Clarke rested her head against the tree, and tried to focus on something other than the weight of Bellamy's head on her shoulder. This proved to be really hard to do, since it was becoming a little uncomfortable. Other thoughts ran through her head, like _Does this mean anything? Does he like me?_ Clarke tensed. _Oh God, do I like him?_   She considered all that the two have gone through in the past few days, their conversations, awkward little touches or embraces, and even she admitted earlier that he was pretty handsome. Okay, so maybe she liked him a little. She glanced down towards the top of his head, trying to assess any other motives he may possess. Nothing. _No... he's just in a vulnerable place, he needs comfort, and that's what I'm here for,_ she realized, maybe sadly.

A few moments later, Bellamy moved his head off her shoulder, turning to look at her. He began to say "Clarke, I-" but was interrupted by loud rustling of leaves. Both immediately directed their attention towards the noise, and as it grew closer, Bellamy stood up. Clarke slowly followed, trying to carefully analyze the situation. As the noise grew louder, a figure emerged from the shrubbery. The person was about their age, had disheveled brown hair, beyond dirty clothes, and face features that somehow reminded Clarke of a shark. He was clearly underfed, but somehow was stuffing a bagel in his mouth while heading towards the creek to get some water. Clarke and Bellamy stood in silence as the stranger continued his business, somehow not have noticing them yet. Suddenly, the bagel looked all too familiar, and everything clicked. She nudged Bellamy, giving him an urgent look. He seemed to understand immediately, and began to trudge closer, though the shuffle of his feet caught the attention of the thief. The stranger glanced at them with wide eyes, and slowly took a step back.

Ready to take off, he muttered. "Oh shit."


End file.
